JUNK MINDSET

JUNK FOOD? yes it brings unhealthy lifestyles of eating but it is not just junk food which is affecting our health but also our junk mindset which is leading to this problem. when it comes to junk food we think everything that serve outside is junk like food served at cafes, restaurant or may be a  road side thela but food which is made in unhygienic condition is not just junk food. it may be possible that you are eating junk daily at your home. let me tell you first what is junk? people often think that the road side momo's, noodles or pasta's etc are the only junk food which is affecting our body and lifestyle but no each and every thing which has high sodium like canned foods, chips, sausages ; high sugars like jelly, biscuits, packed juices, cakes ; high fats like pizza's ,white bread, fruit juices are all junk foods. The problem here is that all of such foods are very high in calories and they are said to give empty calories. There is no such thing as nutrition in  these food, they only give high amount of sugars, trans fats, sodium or may be all of them at once. Here the food does give calories but there is no or very less amount of fiber, minerals and vitamins. These kind of food is commonly known for HFSS foods which stands for ''high  in fats, salt and sugar.'' but the food which is packed or cooked outside is not only junk we may be producing or consuming junk foods daily at home because junk food is after all just good raw food converted into junk by wrong practices or bad food preparation & cooking methods. Let say your child is hungry after 2 hours post breakfast instead of feeding him fruits or milk or just giving him few nuts you settle to give your child a sandwich which is made up of white bread, mayonnaise, with salt and veggies in it, here the sandwich is fine but using a white bread which is made up of bad all purpose flour (maida) not good for colon then mayonnaise which is nothing but whipped oil just fats by this your sandwich becomes nothing but junk with high calories and no or nil nutrition. Now let me give you a good option of this snack by just improving or correcting the preparation of food items ;
- you can always use a brown bread/wheat bread (aata bread)
- exchange your packet mayonnaise which hung curd
- put some crushed mint leaves in hung curd
- add some salt in hung curd and spread it on the bread
- then add vegetables (tomato, onion, mushrooms, capsicum) any
- cover it with another bread piece
- you can serve it raw or can just roast it in a pan greased with gee and then serve,
 here you can see the vegetables nutrition is  enhanced by the hung curd there is no white bread used which will leads to easy digestion and of course the goodness of ghee if you are roasting it.In this way you are not just satisfying your kids or anybody's hunger but also giving them the right calories full of nutrition.
 There is no use of saying that we only eat ''ghar ka khana, main toh bahar ka khana khata/ khati bhi nahi''  if you are cooking junk at home. Eating or preparing all the bad food at home as, many of us eat deep fried a lot yes it does taste better but there is no nutrition left when you fry vegetable or anything. samosa's , jalebi's, pakora's even if made at home are very much junk foods just like momo's are, infact momo's can be changed into good food if we exchange the white flour covering of momo with rice flour or wheat flour, chicken and vegetables inside is very much nutritious we just need to understand the correct way of preparation or which food should be eaten in which region because the momo we say junk at some place is a staple food in another place so we just need to get smart with our plates and eat accordingly.
 There is another way a junk food becomes problem when we consume it regularly or so often that it becomes our daily life routine. Eating samosa's or jalebi's which are high in fats and sweets are not a problem if the intake is once or twice a month or may be if you are sweating it out well but when it becomes a part of daily regime or if eaten frequently, then it creates a problem and may fall you sick or weakens your body. so next time you make any snack or meal at home try to make it junk free don't reuse the oil you have used for frying earlier its nothing but oil converted into trans fat now equivalent to the packed chips you have. Try cook simple and junk free.
  (Stay Healthy)

DON'T GO FANCY!

Fancy here, isn't the sequence in your outfit. Fancy in dresses may look good and appealing but in your plate i don't think it's a great idea of having a good body. We now a days choose fancy things over simple and that is fine as we are changing, fashion is changing, trends change too but always remember human body functions in the same manner just like it use too thousands year earlier, so it is important to give body the food it requires. I know the life style is changing, so does human needs, wants and choices but its not always write to eat whats trending. its not fashion we don't have to always go for what is ''in''.
     Let's dig more into this, if i say that today at this time its freezing cold in Russia lets wear jackets and coats in India would that be fine, no, i know right? just like our body depends on  how the external environment is where ever we are living  only likewise our  nutritional needs are also dependent on our geographical factors. It is really very important  to eat according to your environment, your region and a place like India where within states environment varies it becomes more important to emphasize on the local food.
  We are so influenced by the western and the other cultures that we forget that our food is the  reflection of the place we live in. The local food is not just necessary but essential to each one of us.
like if  we live in Uttarakhand we need to eat local vegetable and fruits like palak, jack fruit, colocasia leaves, kamal kakdi, lichi, kafal, mango, pear, plum, pomelo etc and oils like mustard oil, sunflower oil are going to help us and not those so called refined olive oil which are adulterated and preserved. fruits like avocado,dragon fruit, olives which are not Indian origin are just for fancy platting they do have nutrition but when they are fresh and eaten where they are from and not after preservation and packaging done and sold after so long period of time. until they reach to us no nutrition is left in them. They just becomes a part for presention on the plate in fancy restaurant. I' am not saying western food or Chinese or Japaneses food is bad but eat it when you are there, always prefer food which belong to whatever place you are in. It will be stupid when you don't eat Thai food in Thailand, not eating biryani's  in hyderabad and mutton rogan josh in Kashmir. They are meant to be eaten at particular place where they are famous because they belong to that place.
   Local food not just help us grow but also make us strong and build immunity to fight against the infections or diseases that place has. Your body needs nutrition not just for internal factors but also for the external factors like temperature and region. Body need kind of nutrition which only local food can provide us, Specially seasonal fruits and vegetable ever wondered why do we eat almonds and walnuts in winters more then we need them in summers, or ever  wondered why do citrus fruits are more available in winters, this is all because our body is developed and get repaired by the food we eat and seasonal fruits do that job well. Nature and human body is connected so is our food which comes from the same nature, it works accordingly.
So, next time you eat or drink something understand the local food and the seasonal food is the new fancy food and not some preserved or canned food items coming after crossing so many boundaries with changing places and climates.
(Stay Healthy)